20 inspiring design channels you should follow on YouTube

YouTube is full of awesome designers who are doing amazing work not just with their art, but as creative entrepreneurs making it big. When you’re looking for inspiration, trying to brush up your design skills or you want advice on building your business from someone who’s been there, done that and came back to talk about it, YouTube’s got what you need.

If you’re looking for some great YouTube design channels to follow, check out these 20 designers and entrepreneurs (in no particular order). They’re some of our favorites and we think you’ll love them too.

1. Charli Marie
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Charli Marie is a London-based graphic designer and YouTuber who covers a variety of topics in her videos that are incredibly valuable to freelance designers: from creating mockups to making sure you get paid on time to frank discussions on burnout. To balance out the design and career advice-focused videos she creates, Charli Marie gives glimpses into her personal and professional life, like her series of videos on how and why she learned to code. On her channel, expect a first-person look into the freelance graphic designer life delivered in an easy, conversational narration style.

What to expect

2. Yes I’m a Designer
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Yes I’m a Designer is a design tutorial channel created by Martin Perhiniak, a graphic designer based in the United Kingdom. Instead of narrating his videos, he provides instructions and insight via text in the corner of the screen on each video. Each tutorial covers a specific technique that he explains through these text blurbs as he demonstrates the technique. Elsewhere on the channel, Yes I’m a Designer covers Photoshop updates, working with Illustrator, working with InDesign, product reviews and basic lessons in learning Photoshop.

Specific videos you’ll find on Yes I’m a Designer include:

Creating animal hybrids in Photoshop

New brushes in Photoshop for 2018

Shading and coloring vector illustrations in Illustrator

Symmetrical composition in InDesign

Learn how to draw anything in Illustrator

What to expect

Specific design tutorials, like creating line art avatars and working with perspective lines.

3. Gigantic
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Gigantic, whose real name is Marco, is a graphic artist based in Montenegro who creates flat character designs in Adobe Illustrator. His videos primarily focus on specific aspects of character design, like drawing superheroes or dragons. One thing you’ll notice about his videos is that he uses the word “easy” in many of their titles. He’s not underselling himself, he’s making his work look easy to viewers. Click on any one of them to watch him walk you through creating a type of character or going over an aspect of designing characters in Adobe Illustrator, step by step.

What to expect

4. The Simple Designers
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Like their name implies, The Simple Designers keep it simple. You won’t hear human voices at all in their videos, just beat-heavy music as you watch them turn basic shapes into cute 2D images in Adobe Illustrator. Their tutorials get super specific, so expect to learn how to make images like medical icons, calendar icons and beach scenes when you watch this YouTube design channel.

What to expect

5. Dan Gartman
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From his videos, you might think Dan Gartman is just a tattooed pair of hands that can rip through a pencil drawing at a breakneck speed. And although he does do that, that’s not all. Dan also has a few tutorials on his channel, including one about using a grid as an illustration aid and one on making line art look great. But the bulk of his videos are his speed drawing videos. His fast-moving hands will mesmerize you as you watch him create quirky, video game-y characters and scenes. Prepare to feel inspired.

What to expect

6. Will Paterson
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If you want to know what’s wrong with certain famous logos, like the Google and Starbucks logos, look no further than Will Paterson’s YouTube design channel. Will Paterson’s not just a critic, he’s a graphic designer who does product reviews and provides valuable logo design tips that you can use to improve your own logo design skills. He also critiques his subscribers’ logos, giving a thorough “why” with every review.

What to expect

7. Every Tuesday
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If you’re wondering when Teela Cunningham posts new videos, take a look at her YouTube design channel name. Every Tuesday features typography and watercolor effects. Her channel is mostly tutorials that show how to create certain effects in your work, like:

Seamless patterns in Illustrator

Paint streak typography in Photoshop

Confetti brush in Photoshop

Drop shadow effects in Illustrator

Watercolor textures for typography in Photoshop

Blending with metallic watercolor paints

Every Tuesday’s style is painterly. It’s flowy, streaky and fabulous whether she’s working on paper or on screen.

What to expect

8. Matt Borchert
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Matt Borchert, a designer based in Minneapolis, MN, is a designer who creates tutorials. His videos are technical, but don’t feel intimidated—his instructions are easy to follow and he walks the viewer through every step of each process he explains. A few examples of the kinds of design tutorials he publishes are:

Creating sliced text in Photoshop

Loading brushes in Illustrator

Exporting layers in Photoshop

Scaling patterns in Illustrator

Although most of his videos are tutorials, he also has videos that cover broader skills designers should develop, like improving UX with Nielsen’s 10 usability heuristics and handling negative feedback on their work. He also gives advice about products designers use and helps viewers choose the right products for themselves. He’s covered buying the right hard drive, choosing between a PC or a Mac laptop and various part considerations for designers who want to build their own PCs.

What to expect

9. The Futur
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The Futur isn’t one person, but a group of guys based in Santa Monica, California who make videos on a variety of entrepreneurship and lifestyle topics, covering everything from how to supercharge your personal brand to duplicating likes and comments on Facebook ads to really determining what you’re good at. The Futur aims to prepare and pump up new and aspiring entrepreneurs who need confidence boosts and tactical advice to pursue their goals.

What to expect

Pep talks, practical advice and tips on how to maintain a successful business

10. Pixel & Bracket
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Pixel & Bracket is headed by Spencer, a designer from Indianapolis, Indiana. His videos fall into a few categories: Adobe Illustrator tutorials, spotlights on free goods available on Creative Market (an online marketplace for design assets) and discussions on topics that are relevant to creative entrepreneurs, like setting goals and developing ideas. This third video category also includes discussions about Spencer’s personal experience, like why he chose to quit his previous job and why he spends his time creating relatively basic Illustrator tutorials for his YouTube channel. All of his discussions are delivered in a conversational, easy-to-follow manner that makes Pixel & Bracket’s videos feel more like a conversation with a friend than an instructional channel.

What to expect

11. Made by Mighty
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When you want to learn how to create really cool effects in Illustrator and Photoshop, queue up Made by Mighty. Their videos are all about applying futuristic effects like an animated glitch and powder blast effects to text to give it a fun, engaging feel. Made by Mighty doesn’t have nearly as many videos as some of the other channels on this list, but you can use their effects to nail the exact aesthetic you’re going for, whether that’s cyberpunk spaceman or avant garde papercrafter.

What to expect

12. Spoon Graphics
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Chris Spooner is the creative genius behind Spoon Graphics. His YouTube design channel is all about creating cool effects in Photoshop and Illustrator, but unlike Made by Mighty, Spoon Graphics gets into specific kinds of projects like creating a VHS-style poster and colorizing black and white photos.

What to expect

13. Dansky
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Dan White, known on YouTube as Dansky, is a professional designer who left the world of commercial design to devote himself to creating YouTube tutorials full-time. Dansky’s tutorials cover working with specific tools to create original images as well as working in Photoshop to edit existing images, like his video on “alienizing” portraits and his video on removing and softening highlights. Dansky’s focus is on teaching the viewer, rather than showing off his own skills.

What to expect

Photoshop and Illustrator tutorials focused on working with specific tools

14. Tutvid
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Nathaniel Dodson, the creator behind tutvid, has been a serial entrepreneur since he was 12 years old. A photographer and graphic designer, his current focus is on creating valuable content for designers and entrepreneurs. His video library includes tutorials for working with various Adobe programs, like Premier Pro, Photoshop, Audition, Illustrator and Xd. He also talks about entrepreneurship and business topics on his podcast, the Dodcast, that he records visually and posts to his YouTube design channel.

What to expect

15. Ste Bradbury Design
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Ste Bradbury Design is headed by Stephen Bradbury, a graphic designer based in the United Kingdom. His style has a bit of an edge to it, with a focus on graffiti-style typography.

YouTube isn’t his full-time gig like it is for some of the other YouTubers on our list. When he uploads videos, Stephen often features projects he’s done for clients. He also showcases his speed art and posts video tutorials.

What to expect

16. Nobu Design
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One of the first things you’ll notice about Nobu Design’s videos is the soothing lo-fi hip hop soundtrack. The next thing you’ll notice is how thoroughly they walk you through each tutorial. A lot, but not all, of their tutorials are focused on typography effects. Don’t expect narration in Nobu Design’s videos, because you’re not gonna hear it. Instead, you’ll feel the trance music relax you as Nobu walks you through their creative process. We like to call it trance meets typography.

What to expect

17. AIGAdesign
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AIGAdesign is a bit different from the other YouTube design channels on our list. Instead of featuring one specific designer or small group of designers, AIGAdesign is the official YouTube channel for the Professional Association for Design. Here, you’ll see interviews and discussions from big names in design like Milton Glaser as well as discussions led by emerging voices in the design world. AIGAdesign’s channel covers topics related to living and working as a designer, tackling issues like imposter syndrome and diversity in the design field.

What to expect

18. Swerve Tutorials
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Swerve Tutorials, as their handle implies, publishes video tutorials. These tutorials are a lot of fun. They’re modern, a lot of them are cartoony and they’re engaging. Swerve Tutorials make graphic design feel fun and easy to learn. If you’re interested in building your Photoshop skills to a hip-hop soundtrack, definitely check out Swerve Tutorials.

What to expect

19. Draw with Jazza
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Draw with Jazza is a fun, eclectic YouTube design channel. Unlike many of the other designers in this list, Jazza, whose real name is Josiah, works in a variety of media. He’s got videos on polymer clay, videos on working with watercolors and even some out-of-the-box media like condiment art and drone-aided painting. Draw with Jazza is fun, irreverent and provides high quality content without taking itself too seriously.

What to expect

20. Roberto Blake
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Roberto Blake’s channel is all about building and launching a career as a freelance creative. As he puts it, he “motivates a new generation of creatives to not be starving artists.” His videos largely fall into two categories:

Practical business-building advice, like choosing the right camera and lighting equipment for your YouTube videos

What to expect

Feeling inspired yet?
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Time to bookmark this article and check out these channels one after the other—we promise you’ll feel inspired in no time. Follow these Youtube channels to learn new skills and stay on top of your creative game. We’re loving the videos these YouTubers create, and we’re always looking for great new design channels to follow on YouTube.

Do you have a favorite design-focused YouTube channel you’d like to share with us? Tell us about it in the comments.

The author

Lindsay is a freelance writer and editor who loves all things creepy, beachy, and cheesy. If something somehow hits all three, all the better. Aside from writing, her interests include making art, reading tarot cards, and exploring new places. To learn more about Lindsay’s writing, visit lindsaykramercopywriting.com.